Tank IDENTITY

[Seraphor]

I have to agree that PLD, WAR and DRK all feel mismatched in mechanics.


DRK is the job with a massive HP pool and it tanks damage by sacrificing that HP. So why does WAR get the max HP boost and the HP drain mechanics?

PLD is the devout selfless vanguard that protects others at all cost, so why does DRK get the best shields and more party mitigation?

WAR is the job that rushes dead first into damage and doesn't flinch, so why does PLD get the most innate mitigation?

DRK should have WAR mitigation mechanics.
PLD should have DRK mitigation mechanics.
WAR should have PLD mitigation mechanics.

[Shurrikhan]

DRK is the job with a massive HP pool and it tanks damage by sacrificing that HP. So why does WAR get the max HP boost and the HP drain mechanics?.

Pre-homogenization, WAR was the one with the massive HP pool. Even in other iterations, it's tended to have an especially large HP pool. Granted, this is XIV, and we should be following from those precedents first and foremost. Therein, Warrior has had a large HP pool and has been a sustained battlefield presence, its sustain scaling with target count and its own offensive output more so than with incoming damage.

PLD is the devout selfless vanguard that protects others at all cost, so why does DRK get the best shields and more party mitigation?

TBN only does about ~270 more sustain potency than Intervention, and sacrifices 15% mitigation for each of 4 and 8 seconds in order to do so. It also isn't bankable, unlike Intervention. And PLD has Cover atop that (though it should obviously lose its gauge cost now that it has no bundled bonus miti).

PoA and DV meanwhile, are far better raid mitigation than DM outside of very few, niche fights.

WAR is the job that rushes dead first into damage and doesn't flinch

WAR's lore is far less about "never flinching" that it is about fueling oneself via the thrill of the fight, about being too enraptured/enthralled/angry to die.



I'll agree that DRK could do more to play off of old themes, but WAR's self-healing isn't out of place and PLD is still clearly the vanguard tank. They're not all scrambled up. They just aren't as fleshed out as they could be (or, even, as they previously were).

[Marxam]

They got rid of the high HP because I feel like they couldn't be bothered to balance it and just decided to give everyone a flat 20% mitigation across the board. Though imo they should do what they did with the healers and divide the tanks into two categories: High HP and flat mitigation, aka ARR PLD Sword Oath, and WAR Defiance.

WAR/DRK (heavy 2h) can be the high hp pool tanks and PLD/GNB (light 1h) can be the flat mitigation. It could also provide synergy with shield healers like what WAR/SCH used to have more of. Im sure no one will complain of getting Defiance+ToB+crit adlos again. It would also buff DRK's TBN in directly due to the larger HP pool.

Though if you really want "identity" among the tanks, pvp is really the closest you can get for newer players who never played ARR/HW or even SB to a lesser extent, before 4.1 when they completely gutted IR.